


A Drop of Ink: Nostalgia

by Adurna_Sandburg



Series: A Drop of Ink [3]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Body Horror, F/M, Finally at the main storyline, It's not really surprising at this point, Old Friends, Still Can't Tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 07:58:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18890458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adurna_Sandburg/pseuds/Adurna_Sandburg
Summary: So many years have passed since they had last seen each other. They are both very different from who they used to be. Henry and Joey must learn to navigate their old relationship in new ways. Of course, Bendy and the others join in as well.





	A Drop of Ink: Nostalgia

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I got done with this far quicker than I was expecting. I hope you all enjoy it. Have a wonderful week!

He was back. After all these years, he was finally back. The studio itself didn't look half bad, it had obviously been kept up over time. He double checked that the trench coat he was wearing hid his body while the hat and sunglasses on his head did the rest.

He clutched Joey's letter tightly in his gloved hand. He could do this. He could face him after all this time. He could forgive him. Deciding to not wait any longer, he strode towards the building and to the front door. The studio itself looked bigger from the outside, but a lot could change in twenty years.

Henry carefully opened the door and slipped inside. The floor creaked slightly beneath him. There was a projector playing a Bendy cartoon on one wall while a kinetic sculpture made of three giant movie reels introduced the place as Joey Drew Studios on another.

Henry shook his head at that. Some things never changed. He started to move deeper into the studio and found his old office. The place looked exactly how he left it. Like no one else has ever used it. His name plate was even on the door still. His heart twinged a bit at the realization.

Joey really had missed him. Henry had missed him too. He eventually found the ink machine room that Sammy had mentioned. He stared at the machine from the balcony and felt the urge to get closer to it. He quickly slung himself over the side of the balcony and lowered himself onto the floor below.

He didn't have to worry about getting hurt in this case especially regarding his current state. A chair stood off to the side of the machine and Henry placed the hat and sunglasses there after taking them off. He walked forwards and placed a hand on the machine.

It rumbled underneath his touch. It was almost as if it was welcoming him home. A warm feeling erupted in his chest at the thought. He felt…happy to be back. It was like a piece of him he never knew was missing had been returned. A smile graced his face.

He quickly slid off his trench coat and added it to the pile on the chair. He ran his fingers along the walls of the studio and was filled with contentedness. It was good to be back. Footsteps interrupted his thoughts. Hopefully it was Joey, they could finally talk.

Instead, Henry was in for a rather large surprise. Poking his head around the corner to peer into the room was a real life Bendy! That was one thing Sammy seemed to had forgotten to mention.

He was surprised for a moment before considering the fact that if Joey could turn him into a toon, he could probably bring their characters to life. Bendy quickly noticed him and looked startled for a moment before grinning.

“Golly, I didn't know Joey made another toon!”

Bendy ran up to him and grinned as he took in the sight of Henry.

“My name is Bendy the Dancing Demon! It's nice to meet ya!”

He shook his hand with great enthusiasm. Meanwhile, Henry wasn't sure how to respond. He hadn't been expecting this. How was he supposed to explain his situation?

His best friend turned him into a toon and he was coming back after twenty years of being away? Yea sure. That was _extremely plausible._ Luckily, Bendy managed to make his decision for him.

“You just gotta meet the others! Follow me and I'll show you my pals!”

“Uh, okay.”

Bendy then grabbed his hand and dragged him further into the studio. They wandered around for a few minutes before they ended up in the music department.

The place looked to be in pretty good condition like the rest of the studio. What really piqued his curiosity was the random ink creatures that were crawling around. Bendy noticed that he was looking at them.

“Those guys are searchers. If an ink puddle is left out for too long without being cleaned up, it starts spawning those guys. They're pretty cool and really nice.”

This point was proven as several of the searchers waved at Bendy as they passed by. Henry was taken into the band room where it sounded like someone was speaking. They entered the room to find living cartoon versions of Boris and Alice talking. To say it was surreal was an understatement.

“Hey guys! Joey made another toon!”

“Wow, really?”

“Awesome!”

Both of them ran over from where they were. Bendy was definitely shorter than Henry, but Boris was a different story. Boris was taller than Henry while Alice was just a bit taller than Bendy. That made Henry the second tallest toon. Boris grabbed his hand and shook it.

“Nice to meet ya! I'm Boris, Boris the Wolf!”

Alice waved from behind Boris.

“And I’m Alice Angel!”

Henry smiled at them. It was amazing to see his creations brought to life. Joey could be so brilliant at times. Then he thought about himself. And such _an idiot_ at others.

“It's nice to meet you guys too. Uh, my name is Henry. Do you know where I can find Joey?”

“Henry, eh? That name sounds familiar. Hmm, anyways, yea, Joey's office is right this way!”

The trip led him over to a wall. Bendy did the honors of pulling out a black circle from his hammerspace and plastering it on the wall.

“Have you used one of these before Henry?” questioned Alice.

Had he? Oh, he had… Honestly, Trevor had started to get annoyed with him at how fast he was able to pop in and out to do errands. At least until the transformation had reached his head. It made visiting his mother and siblings a cinch though.

“Yep, they're quite handy.”

Alice nodded in reply before she slipped into the portal Bendy had already gone through. Boris followed with Henry coming right after. It felt just like it always did, you were one place one moment and somewhere completely different the next.

It seemed Joey had moved his office down quite a bit. At least that's what it felt like. The office door had Joey's nameplate on it sure enough. It was less dramatic and flashy than what he had been expecting. Maybe Joey had mellowed out a bit.

“We’ll leave you to your meeting with the Creator!” Bendy exclaimed.

Henry stopped his approach to the door.

“Creator?”

Boris titled his head at Henry.

“Yea, Joey’s one of the Creators! Didn't you already know that? I thought you had already met him?”

Henry stammered.

“Oh, um, yea, I have… He just never called himself that.”

Bendy looked at him strangely before a monochrome light bulb flashed over his head.

“Oh, now I remember! Gosh, I almost forgot! Henry is the name of our other Creator! We've never met him. Were you named after him or something?”

Henry rubbed the back of head. He was once again reminded of his lack of a neck.

“Something like that.”

“Alright, well, see ya Henry! We’ll talk to you later!”

The trio headed back over to the hole and hopped in. It closed up behind them. Henry turned back towards the door. Creator, eh? That was just awkward to think about. He shook his head. At least Joey hadn't cut him out of the equation. He walked up to the door and did a soft knock.

“Come in!” shouted an extremely familiar voice.

Henry gulped before pushing the door open. Joey Drew was hunched over his desk filling in some kind of paperwork with one of his arms in a cast. A few silver hairs had appeared in his locks. A pair of reading glasses was perched on his nose. Henry cringed at the sight. He didn't like to think about that side effect very much at all.

“Bendy, if you're looking for permission to install another double-decker couch, the answer is no. We already have a room full of them.”

Henry stared at Joey before smirking a bit. Double-decker couch? Now there was a story he wanted to hear. Henry pulled to the front of his mind the sentence he had wanted to say to Joey for years now courtesy of Trevor. He just wanted to see his reaction at this point.

“Joey Benjamin Drew! _You_ are an insensitive buttwipe!”

The reaction was priceless. No, it was beyond priceless somehow. The absolute look of shock that crossed over Joey's face as he looked up at Henry's words was so beautiful, it was past description. Whether, it was his words, appearance, or both, he would never know, but Henry _lost it._

He started laughing. It soon had him quickly dissolving into tears and rolling on the floor. He was _dying. It was just so hilarious!_ Eventually, he sat up and rubbed one of his gloved fingers under his eyes.

He glanced up at Joey and almost dissolved into giggles again. His expression was still frozen in shock. Henry smirked again before addressing Joey.

“Ya know Joey, if you keep your face like that for any longer and it's going to get stuck looking like that.”

Joey shook his head at the words. He stood up from his desk and took off his reading glasses. He stared at Henry until he walked over to him. Henry simply watched him curiously. Without warning, Joey took one of his hands and squeezed it.

"You're squishy."

Henry sighed and hung his head.

"Why does _everyone_ do that?"

Joey raised an eyebrow before looking away.

"So you've finally come back…"

Henry nodded.

"I got your letter. I am guessing you wanted to show me those three little troublemakers I met outside?"

Joey rubbed the back of his neck with his unmaimed arm.

"Something like that… I also…wanted to talk to you…"

He trailed off, unsure if he should continue. Henry smiled and held up two fingers.

"Two things."

Joey then dropped like a sack of bricks as he was kicked in a very special place. A moment later, he was jerked off the floor and wrapped in a hug.

"That's for turning me into a toon without my consent. This is because I missed you."

Tears pricked the edges of Joey's eyes though he didn't know if it was from the emotional or physical pain.

"I-I missed you too." he managed to choke out.

Henry held him for a few more minutes, a few black tears escaping from his own eyes. He was careful to not let them stain Joey's clothes. When he let go, Joey wouldn't look him in the eye.

Carefully, he used a finger to tilt Joey's chin up and look him in the eye. He finally said the words that had rested on the tip of his tongue for years.

"I forgive you."

Joey's eyes widened and he used his good arm to grab Henry's.

"D-do you...do you really mean that?"

"Absolutely… You're still a jerk though."

Joey chuckled weakly.

"I can't disagree… Are you really though…"

He stared at Henry some more. To his amazement, Henry pulled out a pen from behind his back and wrote the word "hello" in the air in front of him.

"Holy smokes!"

Joey stepped back in shock while Henry smirked.

"I am indeed."

"I didn't think… I had a theory, but...for it to be real…"

A calculating look crossed Joey's face while Henry turned serious.

"You haven't tried this kind of stuff out on anyone else, _have you?"_

Joey stopped mumbling to himself and gulped.

"No, well, at least not without their consent…"

Henry tapped his foot in thought while Joey started to sweat.

"Good enough… You didn't use humans to make Bendy and them did you though?"

Joey waved his hands rapidly in front of him.

"No, no! Definitely not! Absolutely not!"

Henry grinned brightly.

"Great, _glad we're all on the same page."_

Joey eyed Henry warily.

"You know Henry, you're utterly _terrifying_ sometimes."

Henry bowed.

 _"Why thank you…_ Oh, that reminds me, I brought you something."

He pulled out a jar from behind him and plopped it on Joey's desk with reverence.

"The Joey Fund?"

"Yep, to make my friend's dreams and schemes come true."

"Well…that's explains a lot. Wait…I never ask you to start a Joey Fund!"

"Yep, you never did. I just started it because I could."

Joey blinked.

"Why are you like this?"

Without any hesitation, Henry replied.

"Because you made me like this."

"...That was low, Henry."

There was a knocking at the office door.

"Joey! Can we come in yet?" We wanna spend some more time with Henry!"

Joey looked at Henry with a smile.

"It's for you."

"When were you planning on telling me about them?"

"Mmmm...eventually. Come right on in guys. Henry wants to say hi again too."

"This conversation isn't over."

The door opened.

"I know."

Bendy grinned at Henry as Alice and Boris stepped into the room after him.

Joey looked on with a gleam in his eye.

"Guys, meet your other Creator, Henry Stein."

As jaws dropped around the room, Henry knew Joey was going to _definitely_ pay for this later.

_"You're that Henry?"_

"Why does he look like us then?"

"Well, why wouldn't he? He _obviously_ has taste."

"What would you know about taste? You look like a clown!"

"Why you!"

Henry tapped a bickering Alice and Bendy on the shoulder.

"Allow me reintroduce myself, my name is Henry Stein and I am one of your Creators as _Joey_ has seen fit to inform you of."

Throwing caution to the wind, the toons all jumped on Henry and hugged him. He, of course, fell over while Joey started laughing.

_Well, I guess this is one way to be welcomed back._

 

Joey eyed the suspicious box that somebody had placed on his desk. It was labeled do not open on all sides of the box. Well, if the box said do not open, it meant don't open it. He took a step away from his desk, but then stopped.

Since when did expectations of any type stop him? He walked back over to the box. Cautiously, he opened the box and slowly peered inside of it. A scream was heard coming from Joey's office along with a thud.

It seemed that Joey had fainted. All that could be seen after that was Henry's body strolling into the office and picking up his head and putting it back in its proper place.

He had a smile as bright as the sun on his face the entire time. Even Bendy would have been impressed by it. Whistling, he walked out the office to see what other poor souls he could torment today.


End file.
